Ho, Ho, WHOA! Merry Christmas, ladies! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your family and friends giving thanks and honor to our God. I know this season can be quite hectic and often times we can lose sight of why we are celebrating. Well, this Christmas was one for the record books at my home and it fittingly kept our God in focus. My home was filled with visiting family last week and our time together included unprecedented drama and sirens.  First, we gathered in the basement to wait out a tornado warning on Wednesday night. After emerging unaffected by the storm, we prayed as a family for those who may have been impacted and thanked God for keeping us safe. Christmas however was most memorable and began with the alarm being set off by thunder around 6 AM. As the day unfolded we had a grease fire on the bar-b-que grill, a trashed turkey, a macaroni casserole on the floor, singed food in the oven, a smoke alarm siren, a curbside visit from the fire department, burnt bottoms of the much awaited scratch yeast rolls and a lovely dinner, all in that sequence. Now, what's hysterical about the kitchen drama is my sisters and I are all pretty darn good cooks; not our first time at the cooking rodeo! And amazingly with our egos and culinary acumen on the line, we were able to maintain our God given peace. We kept our focus on completing the dinner. We did not stop to complain about what went wrong or who caused it. We knew what force was at work trying to destroy our solidarity and we weren't going for it! When we could finally sit as a family around the table and begin our feast, we again gave much deserved praise and thanks to our God without whom our dinner would not have been possible. After all were fed and the kitchen was cleaned, my sisters and I sat more united than ever around the table…and then we laughed! His peace reigned in our hearts! Sure, we spoke of how much worse things could have gone and how we would have behaved in the past, but we were particularly struck by His signature on the day: Jesus saves. This was a Christmas we will never forget not only because of the comedy of errors but mostly because it exemplified His presence, protection, and provision that allowed us to remain in His peace. As we parted this weekend, (Boo!) we were confident that by His grace we have been changed.

May the joy and peace of Christmas be with you all today and in the coming year!